Jacob's Pillow Dance

Ballet at age 15. Three years later she was invited by George Balanchine to join the New York City Ballet (NYCB) and, in a 21-year career with NYCB, she was showcased in leading roles under Balanchine's direction, as well as in principal roles in Jerome Robbins' repertoire. Guest performances included Nureyev and Friends, Giselle with Alexander Gudonov and numerous appearances in Live From Lincoln Center and Dance in America films. Before moving to Seattle in the fall of 1993, she taught movement for student actors at Playwrights' Horizons and helped develop a body-awareness class for actors with theater teacher Caymichael Patten. Since finishing her performance career, Saland has been a freelance instructor traveling to NewYork, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Buenos Aires, Copenhagen, Madrid, Mallorca and Mexico. Some of her strongest influences were from teachers such as Stanley Williams, Maggie Black, and Tina Bernal. The coaching Stephanie received from Gelsey Kirkland has profoundly shaped her classwork and performance values and remains one of the indelible parts of a long career. She has been equally inspired and informed through other non-ballet sources including Gyrotonics, Pilates, Zena Romett Floor-Barre, and years of a variety of modalities including CranialSacral Therapy, physical therapy, network chiropractic, SOMA, Aston-Patterning, and Body Balancing with Mark Kane. Saland offers a class that synthesizes information from all these systems. Elizabeth Kaye, Contributing Arts Editor of the LA and NY Times says of Saland, "...As a teacher she is as unparalleled as she was in her dancing. Dance becomes understandable when touched by Stephanie. It also becomes magic." This will be Saland's first season with the Ballet Program at The School at Jacob's Pillow.